Experimental investigation on traversing hot jet ignition of lean hydrocarbon-air mixtures in a constant volume combustor

Abstract

A constant-volume combustor is used to investigate the ignition initiated by a traversing jet of reactive hot gas, in support of combustion engine applications that include novel wave-rotor constant-volume combustion gas turbines and pre-chamber IC engines. The hot-jet ignition constant-volume combustor rig at the Combustion and Propulsion Research Laboratory at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) was used for this study. Lean premixed combustible mixture in a rectangular cuboid constant-volume combustor is ignited by a hot-jet traversing at different fixed speeds. The hot jet is issued via a converging nozzle from a cylindrical pre-chamber where partially combusted products of combustion are produced by spark- igniting a rich ethylene-air mixture. The main constant-volume combustor (CVC) chamber uses methane-air, hydrogen-methane-air and ethylene-air mixtures in the lean equivalence ratio range of 0.8 to 0.4. Ignition delay times and ignitability of these combustible mixtures as affected by jet traverse speed, equivalence ratio, and fuel type are investigated in this study.